Millionaire and Club-Owner Katharina Liebherr

«The Saudis can buy players, but not the soul of football»

Sandro Inguscio und Emanuel Gisi

Blick: Katharina Liebherr, we reach you a few days after your wedding in Dubai. How is the honeymoon going?
Katharina Liebherr: We don't even know if it's our honeymoon yet. We simply added this trip to our wedding. My husband has lived here for a long time, he has many acquaintances here, plus we have a lot of work to do. And there is another wedding, this time we are invited as guests. We enjoy it, these are great days.

If you can afford everything: What makes a great day?
The most important thing for me is not to have any deadline pressure and to spend the day in a self-determined way. With a good breakfast, good weather. And then ending the day in the evening with good friends.

Can you still remember the day you met your husband?
We met in Dubai through a mutual friend who lives here. That's why Dubai will probably be an important destination throughout our lives. Later we met in Zurich. We immediately had a good connection. We talked a lot and created a basis for our love.

So you didn't meet in the Zurich Dior shop that your husband runs, as has been rumoured?
No, we knew each other before that. We deepened our connection in Zurich until we knew where the journey was going. I visited him in Zurich in the shop. And of course he became my fashion consultant.

What did he inspire you with?
We share the same values, even though we come from different cultures. He is very modest, he keeps to himself. We are both very social people, always trying to help if we can. My husband comes from Syria, that's why we are involved in helping children in that country, for example.

How was your wedding at the Dolder Grand in Zurich?
We tried to bring in both our personalities, both our cultures. The Syrian, the Swiss. We mixed it up, in the music, in the food. There was Arabic food, a sharing dinner, so everything was shared. That was a bit unconventional, we like that.

And your guests?
We invited all the people who have been with us in our lives. Everyone came, that was super important for us.

Your personal highlight of the day?
The moment when everyone was on the dance floor dancing to Arabic music. It was great.

We heard that Ralph Hasenhüttl was also there, the ex-coach of your Southampton FC. How did that happen?
When I met him, I knew very quickly: this is our coach. His fire, his passion, how he sees football and how he wanted to use our players, also our youngsters. And that's sometimes with coaches somehow ... I've experienced it differently, let's put it that way. Everything fitted. And from that a friendship developed that went beyond football.

Your club sacked Hasenhüttl about a year ago. Does it make you proud that he still wants to be friends with you?
Yes, it makes me happy. It shows that we did something right, we try to use the people at our club according to their strengths and give them freedom and trust. He didn't have to come after all that's happened. He wanted to.

What was it like when your father bought Southampton FC in 2009?
It was a shock when my father bought Southampton FC! As a family, we had no experience in this industry. He bought the club in 2009, he passed away in 2010. I've never seen him as happy as he was that year. Even though he didn't get to experience any of our promotions, he still fulfilled his life's dream.

Your father died of a heart attack in 2010 at the age of 62. Suddenly you were the club owner.
Those were dramatic days. When his death was announced, the next day there was a sea of flowers outside the stadium, football shirts with his name on them. It was an incredible experience to see how much he was respected there. It shows that he did a lot of things right in the year he was there.

For example?
The club wouldn't exist without him. He took the plunge and took the risk. He acted very quickly. And, this was very important to him, he immediately took over all outstanding bills at Southampton to ensure that no SME anywhere could get into financial difficulties when the club was threatened with insolvency.

He was not forgotten about that.
No. And I will never forget the reaction of the masses. People mourned him who actually didn't know him. The people and the staff who hugged me with tears in their eyes – that's what bonded me to Southampton forever.

You inherited the club. At the beginning, you were met with a lot of scepticism. How do you assess this 13 years later?
I understood that. I had kept myself very much in the background the year before. The fans didn't know what to expect. It was okay for me to have to prove myself first.

Have you become a football expert during your time as a club owner?
I think the most important thing is to accept that you don't know anything about football unless you've been on the pitch for 30 years. You have to know what you can do and what you can't do.

You have now spent 13 years in football. What have you learned from football during that time?
Football is emotional, it's incredibly bonding. You work during the week and get the reward at the weekend in the game. The whole mood in the club depends on how you played. You can't separate the two. It's a company, but what happens emotionally on the pitch at the weekend is then reflected during the week.

In 2017, you sold 80 per cent of the club to the Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng. Why?
You need a lot of capital. Especially in the Premier League. The heights are not such a problem. With Ronald Koeman as coach and Ralph Krueger as chairman, we reached sixth place, and things went very well during the period when I was sole owner. But it's important to prepare for worse times. For that, we looked for partners. My concern was always to find someone to whom I could pass on the club in good hands. I always wanted to stay with it, but mainly because I have a strong emotional bond with the staff and can bridge the gap to a new owner. Mister Gao had similar values to my father. His daughter is the same age as me, she was also at the wedding. Actually, that would have been a good solution.

But?
The Chinese state has made Chinese investments abroad more difficult. That is of course deadly for a club. And so we had to find a new solution.

In 2021, Gao's shares were then sold to Sports Republic under Serbian entrepreneur Dragan Solak.
He is also a very impressive personality, I think he can offer the club a stable future.

In the summer, a capital increase was carried out. You didn't put in any new money then. How big is your share at the moment?
It's called dilution of the shares. My share has thus fallen well below 20 per cent.

You are said to have received around 205 million pounds in 2017 for the 80 per cent you sold to Mr Gao. Sports Republic is now said to have paid just over £100m for the same stake four years ago. Why has the club lost so much value?
Of course, I can't confirm the figures themselves. Basically, the sporting development in recent years has not been so good, you can't always influence that. Especially in a competitive league like the Premier League. Unfortunately, we were relegated in the summer, which didn't have a positive impact on the club's value either. We want to get back up and then I'm convinced that the club's value will recover.

What do you think of the development in world football, that the Saudis are no longer just pumping money into European football, but are getting top stars from European leagues for their own clubs?
Of course, it's nice to put together such a dream team with a lot of money. But the Saudi league will never be able to compete with the Premier League. The excitement and enthusiasm we experience in the European leagues, that any team can become champion or be relegated, that's what football is all about. There are no guarantees.

So you haven't zapped into the Saudi Pro League yet?
No. The Saudis can buy players, but not the soul of football. A club like Southampton means an awful lot. It's about youth work, about a social environment, about identity and prospects. It's not only about scoring beautiful goals, but also about a sense of unity. Especially in regions that are not so economically strong. There are many people who are not doing well in terms of health or finances who find support in the club. During Corona, the club supported many people who were alone at home. Homework support was provided for children, drug addicts were re-socialised through sport. In England, a football club is not just football itself, there is a lot going on in society. If the club in Southampton were no longer there tomorrow, there would be a huge hole.

Have you ever considered buying a Swiss club? Ralph Krueger could certainly help here too...
My heart is already taken. My father's legacy is in Southampton. That's an attachment I'll always feel. And for that, I would also consider my football knowledge too small to invest in other football clubs.

You are very reserved in public, never actually give interviews. Why were we allowed to talk to you?
I am very attached to Switzerland, part of my family lives in the canton of Aargau. I think our Southampton story is great and I wanted to tell it in Switzerland. Where else would you do that if not in Blick?

Premier League 24/25

		Mannschaft	SP	TD	PT
	1	Liverpool FC	15	18	36
	2	Chelsea FC	16	18	34
	3	Arsenal FC	16	14	30
	4	Nottingham Forest	16	2	28
	5	Manchester City	16	5	27
	6	Aston Villa	16	-1	25
	7	AFC Bournemouth	15	3	24
	8	FC Fulham	16	2	24
	9	Brighton & Hove Albion	16	1	24
	10	Tottenham Hotspur	16	17	23
	11	Brentford FC	16	2	23
	12	Newcastle United	16	2	23
	13	Manchester United	16	2	22
	14	West Ham United	15	-8	18
	15	Crystal Palace	16	-4	16
	16	Everton FC	15	-7	15
	17	Leicester City	16	-13	14
	18	Ipswich Town	16	-12	12
	19	Wolverhampton Wanderers	16	-16	9
	20	Southampton FC	16	-25	5